Portal will aid women sell food stuff around world

“Demand for these hill food products has gone up over the months. The launch of this portal will further boost sale and enhance income for the state,” Rawat said.Darshan Kunwar | TNN | October 13, 2015, 15:14 IST

DEHRADUN: To boost sale of food products made by women self-help groups, especially those that also use hill crops like mandua, jhanghora, bhatt and other local pulses, chief minister Harish Rawat on Monday launched a new online portal, himani.org. This can be used by women entrepreneurs to market their products worldwide.

This portal is meant for the exclusive use of about 30,000 women self-help groups, including Mahila Mangal Dal (MMD), spread across Uttarakhand. The launch ceremony was conducted in the Parade Ground, in the presence of about 1,000 women entrepreneurs from different districts. This comes just days after the chief minister said that a mechanism would be created to enable buyers from across the world to purchase the products of these groups.

“Demand for these hill food products has gone up over the months. The launch of this portal will further boost sale and enhance income for the state,” Rawat said.

A senior manager in Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), a state government corporation, said owing to the rise in popularity of these delicious cuisines, many buyers for these goods come not just from other states, but from other countries.

“In the picturesque Binsar sanctuary of Almora district, 200 km from Dehradun, tourists taste the goodness of things like churkani, jhonghora ki kheer, and locally grown bhatt. Many European tourists develop a taste for these things,” the officer said.

Sale of products can now occur online, Rawat said, adding that the government would also organize a state-level summit of women entrepreneurs and self-help groups.

A senior IAS officer in the state government said the portal could come to be associated with a brand. Pushpa Bisht, a member of self-help group Mahila Mangal Dal at Mehelchauri said, “The launch of this portal has meant that the state government has kept a promise it has made to us.”